MEMORY EPISODE EDUCATION GUIDES:

Some hands create to record a place and time; others are more intimate gestures about personal histories. In any case our Nation’s collective memory can become tangible when we examine objects created by the hand. These 3 educational guides help develop craft in a larger context, providing educators with material that will relate to and reflect the core ideas and art forms presented in the MEMORY episode.

Episode: MEMORY

JAN YAGER'S THE TIARA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, 2006, IS SHOWN HERE IN ITS PARTS: EIGHT BROOCHES, TWO STICK PINS, A TIE TACK AND A PENDANT

FRAGMENTS

For many craft artists, natural materials are essential to their work. In this section of Educator Guide: Landscape, students will learn, through the work of George Nakashima and Jan Yager, how raw materials are transformed by artists into works of art that reflect upon and respond to their relationships to nature. Students will also explore how the artists’ deep connections with their natural surroundings inspire them to create beautiful, functional objects.

DOWNLOAD

Download the Natural Connections Lesson Guide in PDF format HERE to get started in your classroom.

MEMORY looks to the dynamic of cultural history and personal heritage in creating objects.

Blacksmith Tom Joyce speaks about his work and the mathematician Fibonacci.

PAT COURTNEY GOLD (WASCO/TLINGIT), HONOR THE WASCO WEAVER OF THE 1805 BASKET COLLECTED BY LEWIS AND CLARK, 2003

ROOTS

Some craft artists look to their culture, heritage, and traditions for ideas and inspiration to incorporate into their art making. These artists understand who they are in terms of what came before them and consciously incorporate these ideas, stories, and struggles into their art. In this section of Educator Guide: Memory, students will discover the importance of “roots” to selected craft artists and investigate their own roots through inquiry-based activities.

DOWNLOAD

Download the Roots Lesson Guide in PDF format HERE to get started in your classroom.

Patricia Crosby talks about the forming of Mississippi Cultural Crossroads.

TIMBERLINE LODGE, CREATED BETWEEN 1936 AND 1938

HAND TO HOME

Craftspeople find pleasure and fulfillment in making objects that are beautiful, unique, and functional. Many craft artists think about these notions of beauty and function and work tirelessly to realize their visions. In this section of Educator Guide: Memory, students will deepen their knowledge and understanding of how artists use their most valuable tool, their hands, to transform raw materials into works of art that are meant to used and enjoyed by those who own them.

DOWNLOAD

Download the Hand to Home Lesson Guide in PDF format HERE to get started in your classroom.

Jeweler & Mixed-Media artist Jan Yager discusses communication through art.